


The play of matchmaking

by GoldCrystalCat



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Bickering, Comedy, Drama & Romance, F/M, I'm scared for the rating, Passive-aggression, Preston is on the roll, Preston tries to do a good thing, Romeo and Juliet everyone, Tags Are Hard, there is a lot of things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 22:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldCrystalCat/pseuds/GoldCrystalCat
Summary: There is a new play Preston has written, but something seems off. Why would Nerris and Harrison be the main characters of this weirdly romantic story? After they both denied their role, they face the wrath of the Preston, the other campers also paying the price. The two magic kids have to find the way to calm him otherwise the play writer's passive-aggressive behavior might be to much to handle.





	The play of matchmaking

**Author's Note:**

> This was amazing to write. It was really fun and I have you guys also have fun reading.

Nerris was in particularly bad mood today. After a nasty argument with Preston where she and Harrison didn’t want to be the main characters of a random play he came up with, they bickered almost the entire morning. It left bad taste in her mouth. All the bad things she said to her two friends made her feel bad, but there was certain sense of pride that she wasn’t going to part with.

_“Romeo and Juliet III: The hidden scenes? That sounds… Interesting.” Harrison commentated while holding one stack of papiers and inspecting the first page._

_“It will be a hit. I just know it!” Preston nodded and looked expectedly at Nerris, waiting for her reply._

_“Cool title. What’s it about?” She asked with a hint of excitement in her voice. She was sure there was some catch about all of this, but it wouldn’t hurt to get informed._

_“Oh, of course! It is an exciting mix of both adventure, passion, heartbreaking tragedy and fantasy. Even though I tried to tone down the tragedy, adventure and fantasy just a tiny bit. To experiment of course!” The theatre kid explained his eyes two pools of sparkles._

_“Oh a love story? Isn’t that taken already?” Nerris tilted her head, doubt clearly taking form on her face._

_“Oh, sweet Nerris. I’m sure you’ve never seen something like this.” Preston assured. “My goal was not to repair the mistakes so clear in the last two plays, but to completely- Harrison… Are you ok?” He stopped after noticing something change in his friend’s posture. His eyes filled with horror, Harrison passed the papiers to Nerris that took them with worry. She glanced at the first page, nothing suspicious._

_She ignored the voices around her to focus on reading._

_Scene I._

_(Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time under a tree far from the heat of battle in town. Their families hated each other, but didn’t care about them so they just left them alone most of the time. Under the setting Sun, the two looked at each other’s eyes with such intensity to cut diamonds. They get closer and closer until they were just an inch away. Romeo’s eyes flickered to her lips while Juliet’s hand intertwined with his. They felt each other’s breath, they were that close. Their lips almost touched when a loud bang caused them to part. A sudden yell for help was heard and both hurried back to the city.)_

_Ok… Nothing to extreme and not even tickling the borders of weird. She skipped some parts before her eyes landed on a solid conversation between Romeo and Juliet._

_Scene III._

_(Romeo and Juliet are alone near the same tree from before, but the tree is on fire.)_

_Romeo: My heart burns like the tree and I don’t want to extinguish it. Whoever set that tree ablaze has enough power to control my heart. Oh dear Juliet. My heart burns for you!_

_(They are facing each other, the flame reflected in their eyes)_

_Juliet: Yes my Romeo. I am the culprit of the burning tree. I am the culprit of your burning heart. I don’t want to put it out. I want to see your heart melting for me, because I’m melting for you.”_

_(Their bodies get closer, their eyes hazy with emotions.)_

_Juliet: Romeo, please my Romeo. Just like the bloodshed on the streets we see every day, just like the sword piercing through the skin of a brave warrior, just like the fire eating the bark of the healthy tree, I want to feel the danger and life seeping through one body to the other. Let me feel your soul and you mine. I want to feel helpless in your arms just as you feel in mine!_

_(They cannot hold it anymore. The two lovers jumped on each other, hunger in their eyes and strong feeling of want clouding their mind. Romeo makes the first move, his lips greedily touching…)_

_Nerris dropped the stack on the ground, her hands covering the red of her face. What the heck did she just read? Finally abandoning the “play” and throwing her reading focus through the window, Nerris was able to tune in on a desperate yells of her two friends who grew silent noticing her state._

_“N-Nerris?” Harrison tried, but his voice failing to sound normal. He was also cherry red, while Preston just shrugged in question._

_“Well… That certainly was interesting…” She cleared her throat and continued. “You are planning to make a full play out of this? With a… Real cast and all?” She was uncertain about it. The Nerris, an adventurer who loved new things and exploration, stood feeling scared about a sudden wicked grin that was placed on Preston’s face._

_“Not just any cast… I have a few people in mind for the role of the main characters.” Preston smirked wiggling his eyebrows._

_“What about David? W-what did he said about the play?” Harrison was quick to add, his voice quivering for some reason._

_Preston pouted and turned his back to them. “Oh course I had to ask for his permission to perform this play on stage…” He mumbled. “He said if it were to be a fanfiction it would be rated E…” He answered, smiling to himself. “But that doesn’t mean anything. We can make this work without him. It wouldn’t be the first time we tied him to a pole.”_

_Nerris and Harrison shared a worried expression dreading the next question. “Who would perform?” They asked in the same time._

_The play writer laughed and simply pointed at them. The reaction was immediate._

_Both started yelling. Nerris’ high-pitched voice was overpowering Harrison’s panic driven one, but they were loud and clear._

_The more they insulted each other, the play and Preston himself for even thinking about it, Preston grew more and more unstable until he finally burst like a bubble._

_“You don’t want to be the MAIN CHARACTERS of my BEST play EVER? I just CAN’T do anything for you two!? I HOPE you never EVER ask anything from me, in fact. WHY DON’T YOU JUST EVAPORATE LIKE MY BRILIANT CAREER?”_

_Stomping away, he left the two that continued fighting until they too parted ways._

She was on top of her castle, bright noon Sun giving it a warm aura that clashed with her cold being. The mage was deep in thought as she rolled random 20d with no particular goal.

_11_

_17_

_17_

_9_

_1_

New number rolled, last one forgotten.

Sighing deeply, Nerris took the stairs down knowing nobody would touch her dice without her permission. Let’s just say last time Harrison almost “accidentally” fell down the cardboard tower.

_Harrison…_ Nerris walked away from the castle making her way to the Mess hall. She wondered what was he doing right now.

The illusionist was sitting on his stage, his feet dangling and occasionally bumping the wooden surface. He felt like shit. The argument with Preston didn’t go so well. Despite having Nerris on his side and firmly denying the role in Preston’s play, Harrison didn’t have to be so hateful towards him. It was just the pure state of shock when he saw what he had to do 80% of the play.

Discarding his thoughts, Harrison focused on his gloved hand and with a flick of his wrist, an ace of hearts appeared out of thin air. Preforming the trick a few more times, the illusionist finally grew bored of it. He was sure a nice and harmless argument with Nerris would put his mind at ease. Leaving the stage, Harrison walked away, his intuition telling him Nerris would make everything right.

The first thing that collided with Nerris’ head was the door, which she didn’t notice until it was too late. She kept her head low and arms under her cloak so she was clueless about the world around her. Very smart Nerris, very smart…

“I will admit that was very graceful.” A voice of a boy reminded her she was still on the ground. Not attempting to get up, it was Harrison’s job to pick her back up. Extending his hand, he laughed at her state before swiftly locking his hand around her own pulling her on her feet.

“Thanks…” She voiced out and entered the Mess hall. The room was mostly empty Quartermaster being the only one present. He didn’t mind the children being there at all.

“So… Preston.” Harrison tried to start a conversation while sitting across Nerris. The girl let out a groan and banged her head on the table. “I know… I feel so bad. Who knows what he thinks about us now.” Nerris mumbled not raising her head. They both let out a sigh. “Well… You really _had_ to tell him about faking death that one time when you ran off to play some stupid game with the ghosts. You know how sad his expression was? You do know because _you were there_!” Harrison crossed his arms his face stone. “Really? It was my entire fault?” Nerris hissed and looked at him reflecting his growing fury. “You told him you never liked his fantasy pieces because they weren’t magical enough. You said that because you knew it was me who suggested them!” She looked away, pouting.

Arguing a bit more, the kids’ threats and angry whispers turned to yelling and spiting poison at each other. Finding familiarity, they both knew they could vent on the other without causing much damage since they both hated each other more than anything in the world.

They knew their battle was over when their best comebacks became long strings of curses or “no u”.

Finally sitting down after chasing down a rabid rabbit and picking up every dice that were scattered across the room, (Nerris will admit she enjoyed the high pitched scream Harrison let out after stepping on a 4d), the kids took a deep breath.  

“I needed that.” Nerris was the first one to speak followed by a nod from Harrison. “Now with our minds clear we should set off to find Preston and apologize. Maybe we just misread the entire page of detailed make-out sessions and overreacted.” She tried, but failed to preserve her natural color in her cheeks. Harrison scratched the back of his head and nodded, not sure how to respond to that.

Exiting the Mess hall, two magic kids began their search. They didn’t make it to the stage when they heard a crash. The loud banging of metal pierced their eardrums, the source coming from Neil’s and Max’s tent.

Casting a glance at Harrison’s direction and confirming with a nod, the duo hurried to the tent. Nerris was the first to insert her head into the tent, but she quickly had to dodge a piece of glass that was zooming through the air in her direction. “Neil? What the fuck?” Harrison noted the scientist’s angry red face as he dropped another test tube with such velocity that the tube probably broke before it hit the ground.

“Oh I’ll tell you!” Neil let out a frustrating yell as he quickly gathered some of the large shads. “That stupid drama idiot decided to waltz into my tent while I was mixing some sulfur dioxide with other dangerous chemicals and he started complaining about some random shit. Then he started pacing around and I got really annoyed so I told him to get out, but no… He got angry, started yelling and just proceeded to throw my chemicals on the floor. So many hours I have put into get them… So MANY HOURS!” He was yelling at this point.

“Then why are you throwing things around now? You are just making bigger mess.” Nerris flailed her arms around while pushing Harrison off the way of another tube.

“I’m just neutralizing some chemicals. This is the fastest way to do it. If this doesn’t work, we are gonna die.” Neil shrugged, matter-of-factly.

Not wanting to really… Die, the duo got out on fresh air continuing their quest to find their mad and unsupervised friend.

Their goal, the stage, in sight, Nerris randomly decided to throw one 20d. “For luck. We could use it.” She explained and threw it on the soft grass.

_3_

That can’t be good.

Their ears were filled with soft whines soon after. They heard it one-step away from the stage. “You just had to jinx it?” Harrison shook his head in disapproval, Nerris just casting a small smile.

The whines were coming from the other side of the large play area, where they just came from…

Upon closer inspection, they noticed a shadow sitting on the ground. It was Dolph.

He was sitting next to one of his paintings. This one was a bit smaller than the rest of his artwork, but it was interesting in its own way. It was drawn with a crayon, a red crayon. It was a picture of a large tank with lots of guns and a bear was riding it?

“Hey, Dolph… What’s wrong?” Nerris patted the little boy’s shoulder speaking with a soft voice. Dolph raised his head and looked at her with eyes full of tears.

“W-when I woke up this morning I was bursting with i-ideas for new paintings. I was so happy to try s-something new, like this piece of art using just a crayon. When I finished P-Preston came around looking angry for some reason. He saw the art and… And…” He had to take a deep breath to calm himself. “He said it wasn’t my style and I should never draw such things again.” He starts crying again.

Harrison cleared his throat upon closer inspection.

 “Well, maybe he is rig-“

“Shut it, Harrison.” Nerris cut him off with a smack. The magic boy took the hint and tried to sound more professional.

“Look, Dolph. It’s normal for people to not like something created by a person that put the entire heart into the said thing. People don’t always like my shows, but it’s something performers like me have to cope with. You, as an artist, can’t force the others to adore every single artwork you do, everyone has their tastes. The only thing you can do is make more and be persistent.” Finally realizing he made a speech, Harrison closed his mouth hoping his little friend got the point. Dolph blinked his eyes slowly filling with excitement. “That was amazing! Thanks comrade Harrison!” The boy stood and ran away, laughing with new energy.

“Nice speech.” Nerris commentated, amusement in her words. Harrison just rolled his eyes and they continued their walk to the stage. Finally taking a step on the wooden platform, a high-pitched scream pierced through the air.

“Oh what now!?” The illusionist wanted to throw his hat on the ground in frustration, Nerris following with a tensed expression. “Hey, that came from my tent!”

Two kids abandoned their search and raced to the tent Nerris shared with Nikki. They found the adventurist curled in a ball on the bed holding a phone near her. Her eyes were red and puffy with tears and they didn’t seem like drying off anytime soon.

“Nikki, we head a yell. Are you-“ “Nooo!” Nikki was fast with her answer. She sobbed and buried her face in a pillow. “That doesn’t explain why you are on my bed.” Nerris whispered and got closer to hug her crying friend.

“H-he never said it will have a major character death!” She whined and not attempted to move away from Nerris’ act of kindness. “Who? And what?” Harrison sat on the opposite bed, crossing his arms.

“Preston!” Nikki answered and choked on another fit of sobs. “He promised to write me a fanfiction. An exciting and romantic Nikkixnature story, but he never said anything about nature dying in the middle of a heated make out session. So sadddd.” Harrison facepalmed, Nerris had no arms available so she just let out a deep sigh.

“We’ll find him and force him to make a sequel where nature gets reborn by godly powers of Nikki the savior and they ride on a unicorn off into the sunset. Ok?” Nerris pats her head, and she nods finally calming her breathing.

Without another word, the magic duo exits the tent. “Does the universe hate us or is Preston really that hard to find?” Nerris questioned and Harrison shrugged. “I guess both. If we don’t stop his passive-aggressive camp tortures, we might as well be the next victims.” He said rubbing his temples. “If I hear another yell or sound for help I think I’ll lose it.” The two shared a sympathetic stare before something cut them off.

“Hey, magic nerds!” To say Harrison lost it would be an understatement. He turned toward the source of the voice, Max who was casually walking in their direction, and literally set the grass around him on fire. “Oh shit, what the hell?” Max jumped back and tried to put out the fire with a book he was carrying.

“Allow me.” Nerris pushed furious Harrison on the floor and rolled him around the fire. He yelped, not in pain but in fear, as the fire was sucked right into his being. “What do you want, Max? We are kinda busy with something.” She said with uninterested expression finally letting go of the boy that stood up after a bit of panic.

“Yea, I don’t care, but I have something that might interest you.” Max raised the book that had some burn marks, but wasn’t damaged that much. His posture glowed with pride as he opened it and pointed at the beginning of the paragraph. “Preston didn’t want to shut up today so I searched his tent for blackmail material. I stumbled across this thing and realized it’s his diary. Of course I read it all and yes, this book is just as dramatic as him.”

“That’s not very nice…” Nerris accepted the diary, but not attempted to read it. “What does it have to do with us?” Harrison asked looking at the object over her shoulder.

“Read and find out. And also, you guys own me.” Max smirked and walked away.

Nerris and Harrison shared a worried glance and sighed, preparing for Preston’s backstory.

_Oh my lovely, dearest and the most loyal keeper of secrets, also known as diary to all peons._

_I have the most wonderful idea, a thought so great I could write pages and pages inside of you. You know how my two best friends always fight and throw insults at each other. And how they are the only ones blind for the other’s love. Well, today is the day to change that! I spent the entire night writing a perfect play, the one even the great Shakespeare couldn’t admire. It is the most romantic story of all time and guess who the main characters are. Nerris as the strong-willed Juliet, the magic-user that is afraid of her own power, but finds peace in the hold of a man. That man, Harrison, in the roll of a caring Romeo that wants nothing more but a kiss from the most beautiful (and dangerous) woman in the world. Oh the intrigue! The romance! I might’ve gone a bit overboard with fantasy though. I must not forget the primary purpose of this play. No matter! I shall change some scenes and switch it with even more romance! I have to go now, my amazing friend, the sun is almost up and I still have much work to do.”_

An awkward silence filled the air between the two. They said nothing because they couldn’t voice their questions. Harrison gulped the air and opened his mouth to let a shaky breath. Nerris, on the other side, couldn’t look him in the eyes, her gaze setting on the ground, her face red.

“This explains a lot…” He spoke, unsure and careful. His olive eyes darted to meet hers in a split second before they both laughed awkwardly.

“Looks like we need a new plan. I doubt a simple apology will fix all of this and make us forget.” Nerris cleared her throat and tried to gather her thoughts back together.

“We did ruin his play. To him it’s the worst kind of sin.” Harrison agreed, nodding.

“No we didn’t.” She was fast with an objection. “We just ruined his plan or at least he thinks so. We could still make something out of this play.” She explained, her hand tapping her chin in thought.

“So… You want to perform the play?” Harrison raised an eyebrow, a small smirk appearing on his face. Nerris frowned and punched his arm. “I’m doing it for Preston not for you.” Harrison must admit he found her pout cute. Maybe this play won’t be such a disaster if they tried.

“Alright, we can make it work. Although we don’t have much time…”

“Of course we have. We tried looking for Preston the entire day. Knowing him he is probably wandering around and won’t appear before us for at least a day.” Nerris retorted and shrugged. “It can’t be that hard to learn the text. I hope so at least.”

“So tomorrow night?” Harrison smirked and opened his mouth ready to say something else. “If you say it’s a date I will personally brake your bones.” She hissed. Only air passed through Harrison’s mouth.

 

The magic duo gathered all the campers (minus David and Preston) and explained the situation. There were a lot of knowing glances passed among the campers along with Max’s not so subtle “You gonna fuck yet?” The roles were quickly decided and everyone was eager, more or less, to learn all the lines. The pressure was on.

“Alright, Nerris. In the third scene you have to light the tree on fire…” Harrison and Nerris were practicing together. They have successfully endured the first two scenes (the hardest things to act in those were the loving stares the two had to share and Nerris’ one hit K.O. punch in the Nurf’s gut), but the plot really starts to heat up in the third.

“Yea… I can’t do that.” Nerris scratched her head. “I have to roll 17 or higher to preform fire magic of such caliber and I can’t risk rolling low on the stage.” Harrison sighed while his brain worked to find a solution. “Can you… Maybe… work as a fire conductor? If I cast a spell, fire for this situation, would you be able to redirect it?” He asked, feeling kind of stupid asking such a weird question.

“Humph, that’s ridiculous. Nerris the Cute doesn’t need spell lessons from a dwarf like you.” She huffed and turned her head away. “But I guess that would work. Give me your hand.”

Harrison obeyed, seeing there was no point in arguing. Nerris closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She felt a tingling sensation in her entire arm until a gasp broke her concentration. “Harrison, would you please-“ She shut up upon seeing a medium-sized fireball placed on Harrison’s palm.

“Cool…” He nodded in approval. “You mean hot.” They both shared a laugh.

“Alright, now the rest of the third scene.” They both read the said part until Harrison awkwardly took a step back. “How about a break first?” Nerris couldn’t nod more rapidly. “Good idea.”

They continued practicing all night and the entire morning after. They didn’t show up on breakfast so Nikki was the one getting them food. With two plates in her hand and a large bottle of water in her mouth, the green-haired girl entered the tent. The first thing she noticed was a very awkward position the two were in. Nerris was laying on her bed on her belly while Harrison was on top of her supported on his arms with his head buried in her shoulder blades.

They haven’t noticed her yet and she could hear his lines: sweet nothings in the lowest possible octave he could muster. After a while of silence, probably Nerris’ turn to speak, she could hear her muttering something under her breath. Harrison seems to flinch out of his character as he spoke with his normal voice. “Of course we will perform this part. It doesn’t last long so just endure it. I do most of the talking anyway.” He hissed loud enough for Nikki to hear. “Harrison, we are supposed to not wear shirts in this part. How the hell we’ll work our way around scene 8?” She said pouting while her head rested on a pillow. “You mean the next scene?” Harrison smiled seeing Nerris look up to him over her shoulder. “Shoot, already?”

“This is pleasing my eyeballs.” Nikki finally made her presence known. The two turn around so fast, Nerris’ back collided with Harrison’s face. He yelped in surprise of the impact and held his nose.

“This is in the play, Preston’s fault!” Nerris defensive stance included flailing arms, which damaged Harrison even more, punching him in the general torso area. “Nerris, please.” He lowered one of the arms to stop further harm.

“I don’t mind, really. I brought you food.” Nikki dropped the plates and water on the table and gave them a thumb up.

The duo napped the entire noon away and they woke up just before Space kid entered the tent. “I’m here to inform you that the stage is set. Dolph really did a good job making the background, Nurf and Neil were on sound and light duty while Gwen and Erid went to town to get costumes. David knows nothing and we are about ready to kidnap him!” He reported earning nods of approval.

“How’s everyone with texts?” Harrison questioned suspiciously weighting the amount of lines Nerris and he had to know with other roles. “Everyone know their stuff! Dolph and I had some problems with remembering the emotions we had to express while having a duel in words, but we’re fine.”

“Aright. Need help with operation David?” Nerris asked going over a mental list of things needed for the act of kidnap.

“No, Max will be fine. If everything fails, tranquilizer darts, rat poison and spaghetti sauce should do the trick.” He shook his head and left.

The night finally darkened the sky. The moon was bright and stars were twinkling on the sky. The stage was perfectly set up. The red curtain was blocking the view to that beautiful scenery, but that didn’t bothered anyone. They were more scared about the play itself. All of the kids took part in the play, but they agreed the ones that aren’t in a scene that was currently playing they could watch from the audience. The good news was that David was successfully locked in the Mess hall and Erid and Max were lucky enough to find Preston and made him watch a play (they didn’t tell him which one).

It was few minutes before the play started. Nerris was nervously pacing around the stage. Harrison soon noticed it and grabbed her hand to stop her. He looked at her, his eyes filled with worry.

“I-I’m fine... Just a bit nervous. I wasn’t made for stages in front of people silently judging my skills. I usually do that in front of friends while playing board games.” She sighed, visibly uncomfortable. “But you are in front of friends. We all tried our hardest to make this play perfect. All we have to do now is perform it and be done with it.”

After the encouragement, Nerris nodded looking determined. “Let’s roll.”

The first scene was fairly successful. Nerris tripped on words only a few times, while Harrison tripped on the actual stage only once, but that was covered extremely well with dialogue.

Preston was the main target and the person every performer glanced at at least five times in a minute. His expressions got from cold anger to confusion and finally resting on realization. By the end of the first scene, his body subconsciously followed the movements of the actors. When the red curtain dropped signalizing the end of the first scene he was on his feet clapping like a maniac.

The second scene was the part with least romance, but more action. Despite feeling awkward, Nerris punched the hell out of Nurf (at least she thought), who fell on the ground dead. Dolph and Space kid took the stage with their heated conversation that questioned pretty much the entire existence. Preston was very pleased with the role given to them.

Preston knew what was about to play next so he squealed and pointed at the two magic kids when the curtain raised again signalizing the beginning of the third scene.

On the stage, Nerris was facing the tree. That dreaded tree that is supposed to be burning. The cardboard makeshift tree looked like it was mocking her with its healthy branches. She took a deep breath to calm her anger. She felt a hand intertwining with her own and the tingling sensation was back in her arms. The hand squeezed hers gently, almost like he was encouraging her to take out her anger on the helpless tree. When she lost the concentration, broken from a gasp again, she realized the tree was covered in a thick layer of ice. She looked at Harrison with fearful eyes desperately looking for help. The only answer she got was one word that bore into her mind: _improvise_

“The tree is frozen, just like my soul before I met you my sweet Juliet.” Harrison got closer expertly thinking outside the box. “The tree is dead, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be reborn. I know you have the power and I know it because I am the proof. You brought my feelings back and my heart and soul. Whoever is my savior can control my heart.”

Saying those were heartwarming lines would be a bad pun, but Preston really felt the emotion and power of those words. He knew the tree was supposed to be on fire, but it being on ice really adds drama.

Nerris looked lost for a bit, but upon realizing the silence means she should talk, she tried her hardest to sound good and professional like Harrison.

“Uh… Romeo, I don’t want to see you like this, with such pain and sorrow clouding your eyes.” _Quick, ice, think about ice…_ “Just like a white dragon, I coated your heart with ice that only I could melt…” _Shit, aboard!_ “T-they will have to slay me before I give them the key to your heart.” _That doesn’t even make sense!_ There was a silence. Even Harrison’s priceless look of confusion couldn’t stop her heart from beating rapidly. Her eyes quickly landed on Preston just to check if he is still here. Yep, he is and with an unreadable expression. Anger? Disappointment? Sadness? Who knows.

Nerris cleared her throat, trying to fix the situation. “R-Romeo… You balance my icy exterior with your fiery passion…” Then she just sighed in defeat.

“Harrison… This is stupid.” She took a step back, removing her hand from his grasp. “Oh come on, just a bit more until this scene is-“ He stopped, knowing they were far from over. Nerris turned her back to him, her eyes closed and her posture shaking. “Looks like we can’t do anything right. From fighting to performing.” Her eyes opened when she head an offended gasp.

“Excuse me. We?” He said with disgust. “It was going good until you had to screw it up. _You_ froze the tree and _you_ failed at improvising! I guess you wouldn’t remember the text even if this part went flawless!” He crossed his arms, silent fury covering his face.

“Really now… We wouldn’t be in this situation if you just gave up. Why didn’t you just disappear like you always do when faced with a challenge?” She was facing him and her face mirrored the hatred on his.

“Me? Running away? If you acted like yourself for at least a second yesterday, we wouldn’t be here on stage trying to perform. We would spent the entire night bickering and trying to kill each other.”

Something really snapped inside Nerris on those words. Her exterior just broke and hot tears start running down her cheek. “That’s what you really think of me? I’m here just to fight you and nothing else?” She tried to wipe away the tears, but more came rushing down.

“I know that I treat you like shit, but that’s what so special about us. We take each other’s blows and fire it right back with double the power. Nobody knew how we really work and everyone would just avoid us, but we didn’t care because we had each other.” Harrison was touched, but couldn’t find the right words to say. Nerris was slowly recovering, her eyes drying by themselves. They stood still for a while, not realizing the entire camp was looking at them. Preston was crying in the front row.

“Nerris… I never knew you though I was something more than dirt under your feet. It’s not that I was affected by our bickering because I really wasn’t, I enjoyed them. I never had to tone it down when it comes to you. You would always dodge or reflect any incoming magic I threw at you in rage and I have never experienced something like that. I… I like that about you… You are determent and stubborn and aren’t afraid to say what you have on your mind.” Harrison smiled absentmindedly. “Just look at us know.” He pointed to the audience, acknowledging their existence. “We managed to put this play in motion just because Preston got mad at us. We remembered almost the entire text in one day and we put our best to put aside our differences for our friend.”

Nerris was smiling as well. She got closer to him and so did he. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, which she gladly accepted. The audience was still in shock from the transmission and Preston was still crying barely able to comprehend all of the emotions.

“Looks like they are still not happy with what we got.” Harrison commentated and Nerris laughed. “You remember the original plan for this play? They haven’t forgotten.” She answered with a smirk.

He returned the smirk, his head leaning closer. “I admire Preston for writing the entire play just for us.”

“I admire you for not realizing sooner that Preston will do anything for a ship he adores.” Nerris let out a laugh, not moving her face, but not denying him either.

“Ship? Us?” He questioned, his breath tickling her lips. “You thick-skulled dummy.” Nerris shook her head and finally leaned in, they lips synchronizing together.

The audience got on their feet and clapped. Preston was laughing, crying, shouting, everything in one. He got up from his seat and got on the stage. He came closer only when the two parted and he hugged them both.

“Oh yes my lovelies. For the ships! Wonderful play, wonderful act, everyone was absolutely breathtaking. You have to meet me with the play writer.” Preston winked while the clapping echoed through the night.


End file.
